


glory, glory, glory

by ScreechTheMighty



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Harm to Children, PTSD, Pre-Movie, Semi-paracanon compliant, Some details might be different but the ending's still the same, Some things you can't change, Tags to be added if needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 21:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4892881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScreechTheMighty/pseuds/ScreechTheMighty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>you promised you'd help us, max</i><br/>The story of the one he couldn't save.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All my love to the tiny angry ghost Max couldn't save. Note that this is _partially_ divergent from the comics, in that everything up to Max and Glory's escape happens as described in Fury Road: Max Parts I and II. After that, it takes a different turn. Hopefully you won't have to have read the comics to get what's going on, but if you have any questions, let me know! There should be a synopsis of the comics online somewhere, too. I can't fully recommend them, because there is some bullshit, but there's also Max being a little shit so make of that what you will. Anyway, enjoy!

Roar of engines filled his head. Flooded his ears. Her whimpering should’ve been drowned out by it, but he could hear that, too, loud as the engines. Shaking. Scared.

He hadn’t planned on any of this. Gone to Gas Town to get the engine for his car. Hadn’t planned on Buzzards being there. Hadn’t planned on taking help from that woman on the other side of the Thunderdome’s cage. Hadn’t planned on the Buzzards hunting him down, leaving him for dead, and that same woman saving him. _Really_ hadn’t planned on saving any little girls.

But here he was. Girl in the passenger’s seat, hands over her ears, Buzzards in pursuit. Only good thing to come out of his mess being that someone had put the engine in the car for him. Working wheels. It was something.

Least, that was what he told himself to make the shakes not so bad.

_Have to get them off me._

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another plume of sand heading towards them. Not more buzzards—the _mother_. _Jesus, no, no, drive **away** you **stupid** woman…_ He knew that was her daughter in her passenger’s seat, but trying to drive _into_ the pack of buzzards was _suicide._ _And when you get yourself killed? Who looks after your daughter then?_

“Mama? _Mama?!_ ”

Oh, fuck, she’d noticed.

Max only took his eyes off the road for a second, to grab the girl by her belt. Had the sudden, irrational fear that she’d try to jump out the fucking window to get to mother. “ _Stay **down…!**_ ”

Now he was driving one-handed, holding onto a crying child with the other, being chased by buzzards and some kind of madwoman. Already, he could feel the panic clawing at his throat. Swallowed past it. Fanged it.

_Have to get them off me._

Shots fired off behind him, making him cringe. When he checked his blind spot, there was one of the buzzard cars, closer than he would’ve liked. Couldn’t swerve into them, not with the spikes on their cars. _Have to get them off me._

Maybe…

He made a hard turn. Headed for the ruined skeletons of buildings nearby. Had been hoping to avoid there; he wasn’t familiar with the area. Would be dangerous trying to navigate it without knowing where he was going. But he was desperate. Could try to lose them in there. As for the woman…

_Either she keeps up or she doesn’t._

“Get _down_ ,” he growled again to the girl—Glory, that was her name, grand name for someone so small—and dragged her down into the passenger’s seat. “Hold on.” She did as she was told. Her eyes wide and afraid. Never seen eyes that blue.

He pushed the thought out of his mind. He had to focus. Had to survive. He was good at that, lucky. Except when he wasn’t.

_Please let me stay lucky._

It had been a long time since he’d driven her. But you didn’t forget something like this. Especially not with her. Driving her through the twisting paths of the ruined city came naturally. His hands knew where to go. His feet, how hard to press the pedals to stop and speed up. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew _her._ His mind drifted into that familiarity. Blocked out all other worry and dread. Blocked out the tightness in his throat.

That tightness loosened after the first wreck he heard taking place behind him. When he glanced back, there were two fewer cars chasing them. _Okay. Okay. Okay. This is good. Okay._

The next wreck wasn’t as calming as the first; he’d damn near crashed into the same building that had taken out the buzzard. _It’s okay. It’s okay. Okay. **Okay.**_ His grip on the wheel went white-knuckle tight. _Not gonna happen again. Okay. It’s okay._ “Okay,” he mumbled. He could feel the girl’s stare on him, so he repeated it. “It’s okay.” Wouldn’t shock him if she didn’t believe that.

There was a fork in the spaces between buildings up ahead. He stuck to the left until the last minute before veering off to the right. Close enough to shave one of the spikes off his car. But he’d expected that, so it was fine. Planned for that. The girl screamed. Another car wrecked behind him. How many did that leave? Didn’t know. Damn buzzards were _everywhere._  For all he knew, more had come for backup.

But as he kept driving, he realized it had gone quiet. When he glanced in the mirror, he saw one car, growing smaller. When he cleared the buildings, even that one was gone. They must’ve given up. Or gone to regroup, which gave him time to get away.

_Thank you, thank you…_ He didn’t know who or what he was thanking, but it was genuine gratitude. _Thank you._

“Mama?”

That was when he realized he was _too_ alone. Max checked over his shoulder, out the windows. No sign of any bike. Fuck. Fuck, he’d _agreed_ with that woman, told her he’d get her girl back. That aside, he couldn’t _keep_ the kid. Couldn’t dump her either. No, that wasn’t right. He _could._ Plenty of people _would._ The woman was gone. Could be dead. Meant the deal was off, and the girl wasn’t his responsibility.

He could. But… _no,_ he wouldn’t.

“ _Mama?!_ ”

“Where would she go?”

“W-what?”

“Where would she go?” Max repeated. “If…did you two have a place? Someplace to meet if…something like this happened?”

Glory stared at him some more. “U-uh…y-yeah. There was…we’d go someplace when we weren’t trying to trade.”

“Okay. Do you know how to get there?” She nodded. “How far?”

“Few days?”

_A few days._ Great. Max leaned back in his seat and sighed. A few days. With this girl. To a place that might not even be any help to him. Because the woman could be dead.

_Either this or kick her out. Or keep driving with her in the car._

No. Wouldn’t. Max ran a hand over his face. “Okay.” No. Wasn’t. “Which way.”

“Opposite the sun setting.”

East it was.

All he could do was hope the woman would be there when they arrived.


	2. the first day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY I'm back! I took a bit of a hiatus from major fic writing on account of work and NaNo. I can't promise updates will come any faster because I work retail and it's the holidays. But I can promise I'll be working on this.

He drove until they found a cave to park in. The girl slept in the passenger’s seat. He didn’t. _Couldn’t._ His hands still trembled and his eyes kept darting, looking for danger. Even if danger wasn’t there. He thought he slept, for a little, until small hands grabbed his arm and shook it. “H-hello…?”

Max sat up with a start. Glory looked at him with those wide eyes. “I’m hungry…”

He stared back, shaken and unsure. Took him a few seconds to remember why she was in his car. “Uhm.” He kept his gaze fixed on her as he leaned into the backseat of the car. Took a bit of rummaging, but he still had a bag of lizard jerky. _Have to catch more soon, got two mouths to feed now._ She didn’t question what the substance was when he passed her a few pieces. Just ate it. _Smart girl._ “Gonna…uhm, gonna have to tell me if anything out there looks familiar.” He tilted his head out the car window. “Thought I saw some rocks. Might be something.” Out here, rock formations were often the only landmarks you had. Couldn’t find your way by sand dunes. They all looked the same.

“Okay.” Glory’s eyes stayed on him as she ate the jerky. He couldn’t tell if she was afraid of him. Wariness was there, but everyone looked wary these days. And wary didn’t mean fear. Not the same thing. “Did you hear Mama?” He shook his head. He’d kept his ears open for the sound of _anything_ out there. No motorbikes. Nothing but the wind. “Oh.”

Glory looked disappointed. He should say something. Wasn’t sure _what._ “She’s fine.” That was a transparent lie. Glory seemed to know it, too, from the look on her face. _Smart girl._ “She’s _capable_ ,” he amended. “Not soft. So…got a chance.”

She took that much better.

After she finished eating, they walked to the entrance of the cave. Max waited while she peered into the distance. “I think…” She pointed at a formation in the distance. “That way?”

_Think_ wasn’t preferable. Lot of things weren’t, though. “Hmm. Okay. You gotta…” He looked away awkwardly. “Piss or something, do it now. Then we go.”

They took off not long after. She was able to confirm that the rock formation was the one she thought it was. Somehow. They kept driving from there. Into the sand. Into the waste.

She stayed quiet in the passenger’s seat. Forgot she was there a few times. He’d glance to check the horizon to the left, spot her, freeze. Stopped the car the first time it happened. Startled _her_ in the process. “What?”

He started the car again and didn’t answer.

He _didn’t_ stop the car the next few times. Bit of a victory there.

They drove past the rocks and deeper into the Waste. If there was such a thing as deeper. Could you go deeper into something when that thing was everything? Thinking about that was depressing. He shoved it away. Kept driving.

Glory started humming as the day went on. He didn’t know the tune.

As the sun started setting, he saw smoke. A wreck. He stopped the car. “What are you doing?” Glory asked. The first time she’d spoken since they left the cave that morning.

“Looking. Stay.” He didn’t actually _see_ her frown, but got the feeling she was. “Stay in the car.”

He’d seen this before—bloodied wrecks, people left to rot in the sun. No guzz in the tank. Not a lot of supplies. Still a few things left, surprisingly. Whoever scavenged them must’ve been scared off by something else before they could pick the wreck clean, or the bodies. One still had a boot. Just the one, but he took it anyway. Boot was a boot. Didn’t have to match. _Can’t remember the last time I saw someone with matching boots._

Car, or what was left of it, was a mess of parts. Nothing intact, but metal was metal and you never knew. He started pulling loose whatever he could. He was in the process of trying to yank the steering wheel free when he heard a voice: “What happened to them?”

Damn near fell out of the car in surprise. Damn near shot her in her fool face for sneaking up on him.

“Told you to _wait,_ ” Max snapped. He felt bad about it immediately after. She didn’t look too torn up about it, though. Just annoyed. “Get back in the car.”

“We can’t leave them.”

“Can.” _What, does your mother bury everyone you find?_ Waste of time, waste of energy. Next sandstorm would do it more efficiently than he could anyway. “Life happened. Get back in the car.”

She did. Not without glaring at him first.

This fucking kid was going to be the death of him.

He scavenged what he could and tossed it in the back. He drove, ignoring the judgmental look she was giving him. They ate in the car. They stopped when it got dark.

She slept.

He didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, Max's parenting has improved since Beyond Thunderdome.


	3. the second day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW FINALLY sorry updates have been so slow. Real life is a pain. I need to re-watch the movie to get my creative juices going again. Also to celebrate the tEN OSCAR NOMINATIONS FUCK YEAH. Anyway, thanks for sticking with me! (Quick CW for a cannibalism mention/implication in this chapter.)

_A dingo took my baby._

Used to be that was an annoying joke. Now it was a damn legitimate concern.

He was startled out of his stupor by the howls. Still dark—not quite dawn. Animals, what were left of them, mostly came out at night. Sometimes worth hunting. The dogs…no. Not so much. Wasn’t just because he still remembered tame ones, either. These were vicious. Took more bullets to kill than was worth it.

No. Better to just stay down and stay quiet.

The howling got louder, closer. Woke up Glory. He covered her mouth before she could whimper in fear. They’d attack the car if they thought they heard easy prey. He’d seen it before. Stay down. Stay quiet. They’d lose interest eventually and leave.

Drew his gun anyway. Just to be safe.

He couldn’t see them, but he could hear them—paws on the sand, labored breathing, the odd growl. He could just see Glory by the dim light of the moon. Curled up next to him. Small as she could make herself. Blue eyes wide, body shaking. For a second, he wanted to comfort her. But if he moved, he’d make a noise, they’d hear, and he’d be fucked. He was probably already fucked. No sense in making it worse.

The noises of the dogs outside _stopped_ , and his grip on his gun tightened in response. But then they were off, with baying barks and nails scrabbling against the rocks beneath their feet. The sounds faded. He didn’t move until they were gone entirely. “Okay,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Okay.”

No way he was going back to sleep now. Couldn’t, with his heart pounding the way it was. No way she was going back to sleep, either. She curled up against the car door and looked out the window, but didn’t sleep. Didn’t speak, either. He didn’t make her. They just sat until the sun came up. Then, they drove.

She had to correct his course twice. No idea how she knew where she was going. Everything looked the same out here, even to him, and he spent all his time out there. Sand. Dirt. Rocks. Sometimes the odd wreck. More rocks. If you were lucky, a landmark as substantial as a ruined building or a _really_ big rock. But then more nothing. He remembered when the land had borders—fences, cities, the ocean. Did the ocean still exist? Sometimes he wondered if the ocean had _ever_ existed. He remembered it, sometimes. He remembered water. Blue.

But he remembered a lot of things he wasn’t sure about. Hard to be sure about anything these days.

They stopped at another wreck around noon. This one was older, a few days, probably, and picked apart. But it was also bigger. More people might miss. He nudged through the remains while she watched from the car. “Who were they?” she called.

He shrugged. Hard to tell. Not enough spikes to be buzzards. Could be some other group of scavengers. Your usual wanderer didn’t travel in vehicles this big. Not unless they had a group, and he hadn’t found enough bodies to support that.

Not that a lack of bodies meant much. People got desperate. If they were desperate enough, meat was meat.

He tried not to think about that.

Guzz tank was empty, but he found bits and pieces that could be traded, if they ran into anyone willing to trade. Even found a sock. He dragged it all back and tossed it in the car—save for one improvised bag of parts. “Here.” That one he thrust at Glory. She took the bag then looked up at him, frowning. “If it looks too rusty…toss it out the window.”

Might as well give her _something_ to do.

She was good. Must’ve sorted through scrap before, frequently. Maybe that was how they got by, digging through wreckages and trading what they found. Lot of people did. Better than killing, he supposed. She corrected his course two more times. The sun fell. They found a place to stop, near another cluster of rocks. He turned his back on her for a minute, to check his car. When he turned back around…

“ _Shh._ ”

Max looked up. She was crouched on one of the bigger rocks. Jumped out of sight before he could stop her. Max didn’t yell. He did make a noise that probably sounded like he was being strangled. But he didn’t yell as he ran to the other side of the rock.

She was fine. She was fine, and holding the limp body of a lizard. She looked up, pleased. “Got one.”

_Fucking kid_.

But it was a big lizard, big enough for both of them. Even once he took off the lump on its leg. So he couldn’t be too mad.

He heard engines as they were settling down for the night. She peered out the window and back to him. “…’s fine,” he said, drawing his gun and letting it rest on his lap. “Fine. Got it.”

He hoped it had it.

He wasn’t going to sleep that night. And from the look if it, neither was she. Tomorrow…

Yeah. They’d be fucked tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> Also, no, your eyes do not deceive you. This is part of a series. What is my life.


End file.
